Photography

The millions of photographs in the Museum's collections compose a vast mosaic of the nation's history. Photographs accompany most artifact collections. Thousands of images document engineering projects, for example, and more record the steel, petroleum, and railroad industries.

Some 150,000 images capture the history, art, and science of photography. Nineteenth-century photography, from its initial development by W. H. F. Talbot and Louis Daguerre, is especially well represented and includes cased images, paper photographs, and apparatus. Glass stereographs and news-service negatives by the Underwood & Underwood firm document life in America between the 1890s and the 1930s. The history of amateur photography and photojournalism are preserved here, along with the work of 20th-century masters such as Richard Avedon and Edward Weston. Thousands of cameras and other equipment represent the technical and business side of the field.

Eadweard Muybridge’s cyanotypes are working proofs (contact prints) made from the more than 20,000 negatives he took at the University of Pennsylvania from 1884 to 1886.
Description
Eadweard Muybridge’s cyanotypes are working proofs (contact prints) made from the more than 20,000 negatives he took at the University of Pennsylvania from 1884 to 1886. There Muybridge photographed human and animal subjects in motion from lateral (parallel), front and rear positions. For the lateral views he used up to 36 lenses in 12 to 24 cameras placed at 90-degree angles to his subjects, and he added more cameras, each holding up to 12 lenses and placed at 60-degree angles, for the front and rear “foreshortening” views.
Since the original negatives no longer exist, the cyanotypes record full images before Muybridge edited and cropped them for publication. Over 800 sets of proofs exist in the unique collection found in the Photographic History Collection of the National Museum of American History. Comparisons between Muybridge’s working cyanotype proofs and his final collotype prints prove that he freely reprinted, cropped, deleted or substituted negatives to make the assemblage of 781 collotypes in the portfolio Animal Locomotion.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0378
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0378
maker number
776
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0314
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0314
maker number
764
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1971
maker
Snyder, Joel
ID Number
PG.71.120.10
catalog number
71.120.10
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0684
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0684
maker number
1209
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1903
maker
Annan, James Craig
ID Number
PG.003454
accession number
67327
catalog number
3454
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0691
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0691
maker number
1227
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1969
maker
Powers, Mark James
ID Number
2013.0222.32
catalog number
2013.0222.32
accession number
2013.0222
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0664
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0664
maker number
1157
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1964-02-04
maker
Avedon, Richard
ID Number
PG.66.64.033A
accession number
264003
catalog number
66.64
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885-09-17
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0154
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0154
maker number
1339
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1926-08
maker
Petrocelli, Joseph
ID Number
PG.003986.09
accession number
117570
catalog number
3986.09
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1970
maker
Powers, Mark James
ID Number
2013.0222.36
catalog number
2013.0222.36
accession number
2013.0222
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1884-1886
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0570
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0570
maker number
138
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1972
referenced
Mueller, Frederick W.
maker
National Museum of American History
ID Number
1986.0711.0511
catalog number
1986.0711.0511
accession number
1986.0711
maker number
SP-64-67w
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1972
referenced
Mueller, Frederick W.
maker
National Museum of American History
ID Number
1986.0711.0516
catalog number
1986.0711.0516
accession number
1986.0711
maker number
SP-64-67z
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1961
maker
Kertész, André
ID Number
PG.69.162.8
accession number
282922
catalog number
69.162.8
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
PG.004527B
catalog number
4527B
accession number
177902
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880s
ID Number
2013.0305.101
catalog number
2013.0305.101
accession number
2013.0305
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
before 1896
maker
Eddy, Sarah Jane
ID Number
PG.77.92.20
catalog number
77.92.20
accession number
1978.2457
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1885-09
maker
Muybridge, Eadweard
ID Number
PG.003856.0108
accession number
98473
catalog number
3856.0108
maker number
1352
Silver print of an untitled Ray K. Metzker photograph with abstract composition.In the collection of the National Museum of American History there are twelve photographic works by the American photographer Ray K. Metzker (1931).
Description (Brief)
Silver print of an untitled Ray K. Metzker photograph with abstract composition.
Description
In the collection of the National Museum of American History there are twelve photographic works by the American photographer Ray K. Metzker (1931). These pieces by Metzker were acquired by the Smithsonian in 1970 after they were on display in the “Persistence of Vision” exhibition at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Metzker’s photographs range from depictions of urban street scenes to abstraction, and vary in size from 8x10 inch prints to 30x32 inch assembled pieces of over one hundred individual photographs.
After working as an assistant for various portrait and commercial photography studios, Metzker enrolled as a student at the Illinois Institute of Design in 1956. Founded by former Bauhaus instructor Laszlo Moholy-Nagy in 1937, the Illinois Institute of Design’s faculty included influential photographers such as Harry Callahan (see catalog numbers PG69.40.01-10), Aaron Siskind (see catalog numbers PG69.114.01-10), and Frederick Sommer. Metzker has often cited these instructors as having a great impact on his artistic outlook and passion for photography. In a 1983 conversation with curator Anne Tucker, Metzker said, “their experience and dedication is something you had to respect, and they communicated to me how really beautiful and of what great meaning a photograph or photography could be. They made photography a noble endeavor.” While at the Illinois Institute of Design, Metzker became fascinated with the urban environment of Chicago, which became the subject matter for most of his early photographs. After graduation, Metzker’s experimental methods were noticed by curators and included in exhibitions such as the “Persistence of Vision,” where he was included with fellow graduates such as photographer John Wood.
Metzker’s work utilizes the technical components of the medium of photography to create new and unique imagery. Instead of using the camera to create a traditional single frame photograph, Metzker has been known to use an entire roll of film to create one composite image. This is seen in his photograph Untitled Composite Print (Signs, Trucks, etc.), PG69.205.1. In this example, Metzker photographs a series of actions instead of a singular event. Metzker offers the viewer information about a specific location over a span of time while simultaneously abstracting the image by overlapping the individual film frames. Another demonstration of this time-based aspect of Metzker’s work is Untitled (Four Frames and a Film Strip) PG69.205.4, where various pedestrians are seen passing through the same environment throughout the day. Created in 1964, this photograph breaks the traditional rectangular format entirely with multiple frames printed on top of each other and the orientation of the print skewed to create a diagonal composition.
Metzker constantly tries to invent new ways to investigate the formal aspects of photography. This has led him to experiment with multiple camera formats and a variety of different printing methods. He has been known to spend extensive time in the darkroom, experimenting with processes that may never lead to a complete finished project. Even when Metzker depicts more conventional subject matter, such as a figure or cityscape, he eliminates information in the photograph to focus on light and shadow, line and form. An example of this is his 1963 photograph Untitled (Stripe on Pavement) PG69.205.2. Metzker photographs a segment of a city crosswalk, but through perspective and composition, creates an image that more closely resembles an abstract gestural mark than a typical city scene.
Metzker is an important figure to study in regards to evaluating the influence that Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s Illinois Institute of Design had on the genre of American street photography in the 1960s. The Bauhaus tradition of experimentation can be seen throughout much of Metzker’s work. For Metzker, photography is a process that involves multiple steps before the final image is created.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1964
maker
Metzker, Ray K.
ID Number
PG.69.205.09
catalog number
69.205.9
accession number
288848
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
before 1896
maker
Fitz, Emma
ID Number
PG.77.92.25
catalog number
77.92.25
accession number
1978.2457
Margrethe Mather plantinum/palladium print ca. 1922. Close up of American pianist Richard Buhlig's face.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
Margrethe Mather plantinum/palladium print ca. 1922. Close up of American pianist Richard Buhlig's face.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1922
depicted
Buhlig, Richard
maker
Mather, Margrethe
ID Number
PG.003623
accession number
69546
catalog number
3623
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1936
maker
Lange, Dorothea
ID Number
PG.71.64.06
accession number
2003.0160

Our collection database is a work in progress. We may update this record based on further research and review. Learn more about our approach to sharing our collection online.

If you would like to know how you can use content on this page, see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use. If you need to request an image for publication or other use, please visit Rights and Reproductions.